Schools remove courses amid cuts

EIGHTY per cent of state secondary schools have reduced the number of vocational subjects they offer due to TAFE funding cuts, according to a survey of 67 schools.

The study, conducted by the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals, reveals the impact of the Baillieu government's cuts to education.

It found schools were being forced to cancel camps, increase fees and charge disadvantaged families for laptop lease, electives and uniforms due to budget cuts to take effect from next year.

The education maintenance allowance, which is available to poor families, was previously split equally between the school and the family.

But from next year schools will get nothing, resulting in a cut in funding to 70 per cent of the surveyed schools.

Thirty per cent of schools also lost more than $50,000 this year for the co-ordination of the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, the vocational alternative to VCE.

The results of the survey come a week after the Victorian government announced increased curriculum options to specialise in areas such as vocational education.

Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Frank Sal said he supported the proposed changes but they were totally undermined by the funding cuts.

''Cuts, such as those to VCAL, reflect poorly on this government's real commitment to expanding student pathways in government schools,'' Mr Sal said.

''At the same time that this government has cut $12 million a year in VCAL funding and over $16 million in EMA support it has provided non-government schools with over $240 million extra each year without any real accountability requirements.''

A spokesman for Education Minister Martin Dixon said the funding changes brought VCAL in line with the VCE where there was no specific co-ordination funding.

He said the same level of funding for vocational education and training would continue next year.

While educational maintenance allowance payments would cease to schools from 2013, the amount of money going to parents would increase.

Extra funding would also go to public and private schools with high numbers of students from a lower socio-economic background.

Ballarat High, one of the largest secondary schools in regional Victoria, had $70,000 slashed from its VCAL budget this year. The school was forced to cut technology electives, including metalwork and woodwork, and use money put aside to repair its boundary fence to help 65 students do VCAL.

''We didn't want to punish the kids so we've made sacrifices in other areas,'' said principal Gary Palmer.

Ballarat High had to find alternative TAFEs and universities to support its vocational educational and training program after Ballarat University and RMIT pulled out due to government cuts.

The school will also miss out on $50,000 when the education maintenance allowance cuts come into effect next year. This means poor families will have to pay for music lessons, electives, camps and sport.

''We've had 100 per cent participation in year 7 camps but I suspect some kids won't go now because they can't afford to pay for it,'' Mr Palmer said

''The most disappointing thing is that the vulnerable are being made more vulnerable.''